The Promised Land of Ernest N Cross is a gargantuan, orderly nation, ruled by The Dark Lord with an iron fist, and renowned for its barren, inhospitable landscape, parental licensing program, and suspicion of poets. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless population of 16.995 billion Ernest N Crossians are ruled with an iron fist by the corrupt, dictatorship government, which oppresses anyone who isn't on the board of a Fortune 500 company. Large corporations tend to be above the law, and use their financial clout to gain ever-increasing government benefits at the expense of the poor and unemployed.

The minute, corrupt, pro-business, well-organized government, or what there is of one, prioritizes Industry, although Defense is also considered important, while Welfare and Environment receive no funds. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of City of the Dark Lord. Income tax is unheard of.

The frighteningly efficient Ernest N Crossian economy, worth a remarkable 4,508 trillion blades a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Uranium Mining industry, with major contributions from Retail, Gambling, and Woodchip Exports. Average income is an amazing 265,310 blades, but there is a vast disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 2,467,473 per year while the poor average 2,610, a ratio of 945 to 1.

The armed forces are locked in an expensive and bloody war abroad to stamp out possible terrorists, children use fake IDs to purchase candy, rioting during the nation's hosting of ORDER caused one million blades of property damage, and police drones follow every suspected Peeping Tom. Crime is moderate, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Ernest N Cross's national animal is the shark, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to heavy metals seepage into national waterways.

Ernest N Cross is ranked 286,764^th in the world and 48^th in The Embassy for Safest, scoring 4.96 on the Bubble-Rapp Safety Rating.